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Tuning atomic-scale mixing of nanoparticles produced by atmospheric-pressure spark ablation

Petallidou, Klito C. ; Ternero, Pau LU ; Messing, Maria E. LU ; Schmidt-Ott, Andreas and Biskos, George (2023) In Nanoscale Advances 5(24). p.6880-6886
Abstract

Nanoparticles (NPs) mixed at the atomic scale have been synthesized by atmospheric-pressure spark ablation using pairs of Pd and Hf electrodes. Gravimetric analysis of the electrodes showed that the fraction of each material in the resulting mixed NPs can be varied from ca. 15-85 at% to 85-15 at% by employing different combinations of electrode polarities and thicknesses. These results were also qualitatively corroborated by microscopy and elemental analysis of the produced NPs. When using pairs of electrodes having the same diameter, the material from the one at negative polarity was represented at a substantially higher fraction in the mixed NPs regardless of whether a pair of thin or thick electrodes were employed. This can be... (More)

Nanoparticles (NPs) mixed at the atomic scale have been synthesized by atmospheric-pressure spark ablation using pairs of Pd and Hf electrodes. Gravimetric analysis of the electrodes showed that the fraction of each material in the resulting mixed NPs can be varied from ca. 15-85 at% to 85-15 at% by employing different combinations of electrode polarities and thicknesses. These results were also qualitatively corroborated by microscopy and elemental analysis of the produced NPs. When using pairs of electrodes having the same diameter, the material from the one at negative polarity was represented at a substantially higher fraction in the mixed NPs regardless of whether a pair of thin or thick electrodes were employed. This can be attributed to the higher ablation rate of the electrodes at the negative polarity, as already known from earlier experiments. When using electrodes of different diameters, the fraction of the element from the thinner electrode was always higher. This is because thinner electrodes are ablated more effectively due to, at least in part, the increased importance of the associated heat losses compared to its thicker counterpart. In those cases, the polarity of the electrodes had a significantly smaller effect. Overall, our results demonstrate, for the first time, that spark ablation can be used to control atomic scale mixing and thus produce alloyed NPs with compositions that can be tuned to a good extent by simply using different combinations of electrode diameters and polarities. This expands the capabilities of the technique for producing mixed nanoparticle building blocks of well-defined composition that are highly desired for a wide range of applications.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nanoscale Advances
volume
5
issue
24
pages
7 pages
publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
external identifiers
  • scopus:85172767791
  • pmid:38059023
ISSN
2516-0230
DOI
10.1039/d3na00152k
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6483545a-027c-41f5-ade4-7483f041870a
date added to LUP
2024-01-12 13:06:58
date last changed
2024-04-27 08:30:31
@article{6483545a-027c-41f5-ade4-7483f041870a,
  abstract     = {{<p>Nanoparticles (NPs) mixed at the atomic scale have been synthesized by atmospheric-pressure spark ablation using pairs of Pd and Hf electrodes. Gravimetric analysis of the electrodes showed that the fraction of each material in the resulting mixed NPs can be varied from ca. 15-85 at% to 85-15 at% by employing different combinations of electrode polarities and thicknesses. These results were also qualitatively corroborated by microscopy and elemental analysis of the produced NPs. When using pairs of electrodes having the same diameter, the material from the one at negative polarity was represented at a substantially higher fraction in the mixed NPs regardless of whether a pair of thin or thick electrodes were employed. This can be attributed to the higher ablation rate of the electrodes at the negative polarity, as already known from earlier experiments. When using electrodes of different diameters, the fraction of the element from the thinner electrode was always higher. This is because thinner electrodes are ablated more effectively due to, at least in part, the increased importance of the associated heat losses compared to its thicker counterpart. In those cases, the polarity of the electrodes had a significantly smaller effect. Overall, our results demonstrate, for the first time, that spark ablation can be used to control atomic scale mixing and thus produce alloyed NPs with compositions that can be tuned to a good extent by simply using different combinations of electrode diameters and polarities. This expands the capabilities of the technique for producing mixed nanoparticle building blocks of well-defined composition that are highly desired for a wide range of applications.</p>}},
  author       = {{Petallidou, Klito C. and Ternero, Pau and Messing, Maria E. and Schmidt-Ott, Andreas and Biskos, George}},
  issn         = {{2516-0230}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  number       = {{24}},
  pages        = {{6880--6886}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society of Chemistry}},
  series       = {{Nanoscale Advances}},
  title        = {{Tuning atomic-scale mixing of nanoparticles produced by atmospheric-pressure spark ablation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d3na00152k}},
  doi          = {{10.1039/d3na00152k}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}